NotExceedingTheNines

Veritas

Mal shook the rain off his umbrella as he stepped into the porch of the small church. He felt strangely out of place, as if he were a young child again. He hadn't been to church for what, 12 years? more? He patted the gun at his side. Strange how quickly it had become familiar- strange how much reassurance it provided. He wasn't nervous. This type of call-out... there'd been enough false leads that he shouldn't regard it as anything other than routine. There was nothing to be nervous about. Whatever they were looking for, it was long gone by now. They were here to investigate, find clues, consolidate information. He wasn't nervous.

"The moment is here.... O-our time is now."

Mal nodded at the weak little attempt at a speech. He should try to reinforce Varinna's authority; what little she had. Someone like her... he couldn't see her as a natural leader in any way. There didn't seem to be a better option though, or any pressing need for one. Best to let things lie.

Mal followed the others into the church, leaving his umbrella propped against the doorway first. He saw David grab Varinna's arm- then saw her gun out and immediatly went for his own in a confident but unpractised motion.

"What the hell!?" David whispered, "It could be some random innocent person!"

"V, we don't even know who that is." Elli said. "Let's not jump the gun here... literally. Besides, this is a sacred place, and I'm sure none of us would enjoy knowing we let you kill an innocent man. Should we talk to him or...?"

Mal made himself breathe out. "Stay ready V. Could still be trouble." he said, aim steady on the bloody figure. "Amis, David- keep an eye out the door?"

Mal stepped slowly past Elli, floating in an icy clarity. The gun felt like paper in his hands. The ground was slightly sticky. Was there that much blood? He hadn't seen. He called out, his voice flat, and distant.

"Don't move. Don't try anything. We're armed. If you answer our questions, we can help you."

Veritas

Well, I could just tell you...

Or I could tell you that it's 8.39 at the time of posting and let you work it out for yourself :D

Veritas

Ariamella said
professionally related to the video game business

by which you mean 'I wrote a blog about videogames one time' or 'i have an lp channel with 35 followers'. The rules are famously lax- 'actual' games-journalists complain about it the whole time.

Veritas

I'd forgotten how much I love being in a different timezone and missing all the activity while I'm asleep...

Mal

Malcolm Gerhart, bookseller and failed scholar.

29

Appearance: Severely underweight, with pale blonde hair. Typically wears plain shirts without a tie under an ill-fitting tweed jacket. Not an attractive man, he has a thin neck and a weak chin- in combination with his clothes this gives him a peculiarly notable appearance.

Inherited ability: Shadow

Brief History

Mal's drive was not from any idealism, but because of a simple question. Why are there no records? Every other event, no matter how atrocious, has received some historical treatment. The Holocaust was the subject of countless books, biopics and narrative illustrations; even long after it had passed far out of living memory, it was still taught in school as an example of man's cruelty and responsibility for his own actions. Even the better obscured slaughters in human history- the Cultural Revolution, whose deaths were never tallied, or America's wars against the drug farmers of the Middle East, received foreign criticism, even if there were no official records. Why then had the cataclysm 100 years ago escaped the oversight of history?

Mal started this journey as a doctorate student, fresh and eager to impress by tackling something different from the usual questions of Post-Industrialism and the economic impact of globalisation on past geopolitics. He needed no discouragement from his mentors; his findings were discouragment enough. In the absence of any formal record, he started his search with secondary material, rumours or allusions of what had happened in old newspapers; he found nothing. It was not as though there were any lack of material from the time-period; far from it. Simply, there was nothing, nothing whatsoever discussing the cause of the cataclysm; merely lists of the cities burned and of the names of the dead.

Eventually, Mal was turned out of his position. His snail's progress on his personal 'quackery' was excuse enough for the department to refuse further funding for his doctorate. He was sure this was a cover, that he had gotten too close to some uncomfortable truth and that he was being targetted. He did not end his search.

Soon (his new job procuring and auctioning rare books and editions for an antiques company only reducing the time for his research, not preventing it), he stumbled on his first piece of real progress. He found a small group of people who had had the truth passed to them directly, and as the price for learning it for himself, he swore that he would repay their answers with his loyalty.

Mal is still searching for answers. All that's changed is how he asks the questions.

Veritas

I'll be submitting something tomorrow. Would it be OK to submit more than one idea for a character, intending only to play one? I haven't really reached a cemented idea of what I want to do- also I don't want to play something too similar to anyone else.

The Paradigm Stone

I'll be posting tomorrow evening.

The Paradigm Stone

Ok yeah I had totally missed the point :D

The Paradigm Stone

True neutral. And yeah, the whole "40% controlling stake" thing is so that Bakker has a decent say in what to do with the rock, and can obviously have tensions with the other board-members.

Frozen- Bakker would probably be somewhat dismissive of Gabe, what with him being a) young and b) reliant on someone else's work for his money. At least, without any other good reason to pay him attention. He'd be civil though, and they'd definitely have moved in the same circles.

---

EDIT: sorry, just to confirm... there is more than one stone, right? Like, as the meteor was landing, it broke up in the atmosphere and people grabbed fragments? Or is the rock sitting in the lab the only one? My impression was that that was the main body of the meteorite, not the lump sum of all the paradigm stone there is.

The Paradigm Stone

OK so I think this will do. I'm going to go over it and do some edits soon, but the key points will remain the same.

In the interest of as much autonomy for my character as possible, whilst still satisfying the story requirements so far given, John Bakker's company 'The Tower' will have a controlling interest in the still awfully named (could this be an IC thing please? Just lampshade it horribly) Genetico, with 40% of the shares.

John Bakker

-Basic Info-
Name: John Bakker
Gender: Male
Age: 57

-Stats-
(image to be added)
Height: 5:10
Weight: 14 st.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Notable Features: Wheelchair

-Psychological Profile-

Personality:
Bakker has a forceful personality. He is as selfish and driven as can be expected for a man in his situation, but his main goal is not the aquisition of more wealth (which at a certain point becomes more a way of keeping score), but the aquisition of status.
It is for this reason that he gives prolifically and funds political campaigns, art exhibitions and cutting edge-research. It is also for this reason that The Tower's more dubious holdings (as diverse as sweatshops in the Phillipenes, private security companies and labs pursuing secretive and amoral military contracts) are handled through a web of subsidiaries and dummy corporations. Not to say that The Tower is completely free of stigma, simply that to the public eye rumours of these goings on remain just that; merely rumours.
On a business level, Bakker is a cold pragmatist. He has very few moral codes he feels bound by, and is limited more by what he can hide than anything else.

Strengths: Natural charm, charisma and a talent for personal manipulation. And, of course, the enourmous amount of human resources and money at his disposal.
Weaknesses: Physically handicapped by a series of literally crippling strokes. Bakker is bound to a wheelchair.
Fears: Loss of status, and the destruction of whatever legacy he can create. To an extent, fear of his own body; it's frailty and his disease.

-Power Points:
- 3 Wealth
- 3 Manipulation
- 3 Hideout
- 3 Science (from corporation)
- 3 Public Profile/contacts

-Public Identity-
Job: CEO of The Tower, for business purposes a successful, but moderately sized investment company; in practice a diverse conglomerate of owned and controlled sub-corporations and holdings companies. The Tower itself is a recent construction- a skyscraper in the center of the city housing an exclusive hotel on the lower floors, and the synonymous company's headquarters at the top.

Home: Bakker lives mainly in a mansion a short distance outside the city. He will sometimes stay for long periods or entertain in his apartment in the Tower's penthouse.
He has an ex-wife of some 10 years, and a daughter (15) who he spoils horribly, but rarely finds time to see.

Wealth/Lifestyle: Bakker enjoys the lifestyle of the absurdly wealthy.
Clothing Style: Either impeccably tailored suits, or casually smart clothes chosen perfectly for the situation. He has stylists, of course.
Friends/Relationships: Bakker is the sort of man who is friends with everybody and nobody- his dedication to his public image means that he spends a large amount of time moving in the 'right' circles; but few, if any, would call themselves his friend.
Rivalries:

Public/Professional Goals: As stated above, Bakker values prestige and status above mere aquisition of wealth. That isn't to say that the investment arm of the Tower has lost focus on this goal, merely that Bakker's personal projects have diversified recently.

History: Bakker likes to say that he built The Tower from the ground up- whilst not strictly true, the fact remains that his original business partners have all been bought out, and that the original investment provided by the death of his millionaire parents has been increased a thousandfold.

As stated above, Bakker has begun investing heavily in various pet projects. The most interesting of these (and one of the least lucrative), was in Genetico's lab complex in a small industrial park, a few miles from the city. This is one of the Tower's better kept secrets; Bakker himself is chairman of the board of this company officially because he was requested to take the position by a group of minority shareholders. In truth, this collection of investors, making up 40% of the shares, is entirely fictitious, and is in fact comprised solely of Tower subsidiaries.

The recent oppertunistic aquisition of the Paradigm stone by Genetico has naturally drawn Bakker's full attention.

-Secret Identity-

With Bakker, there is less of a difference between the public and the secret. He has no secret identity- it is merely that his goals and motives are secret, and that the methods he chooses to move towards these are equally hidden from the public eye. To an extent, The Tower itself is his secret; just as the revelation of a regular cape's nocturnal activities would be a shattering event: so the exposure of certain corporate secrets would spell the end of Bakker's reputation. The nature of his involvement with Genetico is one of the less well kept of these secrets.

Hideout: The Tower
Allies/Relationships: To be updated.
Nemesis: To be updated.
Motivations/Goals: To be updated.
Supplies/Inventory:

-Paradigm Stone-

Bakker has refused contact with, or a fragment of, the Paradigm stone. Although the bulk of the stone which Genetico aquired could by a long stretch be said to be currently 'his'.

Paradigm Stone Appearance:
Personal Appearance Changes:
Power/Ability Progression:
Power-Drunk Goals:
Weakness:
Withdraw Symptoms:

The Paradigm Stone

Is it OK If I go for the slot as the CEO of the Paradigm-grabbing company? If not I'll be ok with doing something else. I just think it might be quite fun to play a non-powered individual...